


Just Breath

by skeleton_fricker



Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:43:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6099250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeleton_fricker/pseuds/skeleton_fricker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Papyrus saves Sans from drowning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate story to Drown. (http://archiveofourown.org/works/5726599)
> 
> A lot of your wanted some Papyrus perspective. This has been adapted to a story from a roleplay.

Sans had made the mistake of getting himself stuck in a snare near the rivers edge. His intention was to find some privacy to have a cigarette in peace, but that simple wish was dashed the moment he found himself swing upside down in a compromising position. Naturally of course, his brother wasn't too far, all the pleased having watched his lazy elder get himself caught in such a simple trap. He was kind however. Kind enough to grip his brothers soul and ripe him forcibly from the tree, snapping the rope doing so.

But rather then set the other skeleton down onto the ground, a devious idea crawled into his mind.

And he threw his brother into the icy river instead. 

The startled cries and sounds of thrashing arms in frosty waters was delightful to Papyrus's nonexistent ears. He grinned widely as he watched his brother desperately paddle himself to the shores end and try to pull himself up to dry land. And cruelly. Papyrus simply rested the heel of his boot onto his brothers skull and shoved him back into the waters, letting the current take him once more.

He couldn’t make it to the snowbank a second time. Sans magic flickered uselessly as the freezing water pulled him under for a final time, barely able to cry out. It wasn’t until his vision started to turn dark under the murky waters that it clicked finally this was how his brother wanted him dead. Not just hurt but dead.

So Sans stopped fighting it.

He let the water take him.

He felt himself sink into darkness.. Felt his 1HP start to threaten to shatter away like broken glass.

Sans was prepared to die.

\--

At first, seeing his brother squirm and struggle in the water had been pleasurable. That look of confusion and fear in Sans’ eyes right before he shoved him back in satisfying. Papyrus stood on the snowy banks with his arms crossed over his chest, just patiently waiting. A cruel smirk on his face that only seemed to get bigger and bigger as each second passed. Prepared to push his elder sibling back in should he somehow manage to make it back to shore a second time.

But when Sans had soon ceased splashing, when Papyrus could no longer see his heard or arms above the water, that slowly began to change. That surge of gratification and amusement giving way to impatience as a foot began to tap anxiously on the snow, his hands gripping on his arms. The smirk dissipated slowly to a frown the longer the water remained still, until something else popped through the numbness that had made itself a permanent resident within his chest.

He couldn’t quite identify it, only that it was enough to make him raise his arm and with a shaken growl summon his own magic. He had to really focus in order to find his brother’s soul beneath the water, and it didn’t help that it was barely flickering with life by the time he did find it. The realization sent that same poke- now more like a punch- through him, and Papyrus practically _yanked_  his brother’s body back out without a second’s thought. 

Sans was ripped away from death as violently as he was pushed to the brink of it. The freezing waters had numbed him, pulling him into a dark yet oddly calming sleep.

But his body was yanked out the waters, air shocking his systems as the wet bones chilled to the marrow. He could not make a sound or even shiver when he was plopped against the snow. Could not even register he was even out of the water. It was like his mind was left in the river somewhere, still trying to catch up with the rest of him.

Papyrus plopped the shorter skeleton on the ground, briskly walking over to him as he felt something pounding against his chest. Leaving him confused and panicked, but only strengthened the scowl that was already on his face as he gave his brother a harsh prod to his side with his boot.

“GET UP.” The words were half-hissed, half-growled out in an almost tight voice as Papyrus struggled to keep it even. Not daring to have his own tone give himself away.

The command sounded like a gurgled whisper to Sans. The kick less like a kick and more the the ground itself had tipped, tilting his skull so water could spill from his mouth and eyes. His wet bones felt chilled to the marrow as he tried to cope. He could not make a sound or even shiver when he was plopped against the snow. Could not even register he was even out of the water. It was like his mind was left in the river somewhere, still trying to catch up with the rest of him.

Eventually whatever water remained in him sputtered out in choked gasps as shaking fingers gripped at the snow. He could not get up. He could barely move or think. His soul pounded feverishly in his chest, no longer dull and dying. It was still weak… But it was still there.

Just like the rest of him.

He tried pushing his arms down, to prop at least the upper half of him up. But Sans could barely support this much of his soaked body and he promptly fell again, gasping in slow uneven breaths. He could not look at his brother, even if he was fit to do so.

 

Papyrus just sneered down at his brother as he sputtered and choked on water. At the pathetic way he just laid there, unable to lift even his own head. Despite this, that strange tension in his shoulders and the knot that formed in his chest began to lessen as his body gradually relaxed, the nagging at the back of his head that prompted him to act on such an impulse growing quiet.

“PATHETIC…” Papyrus raised his boot again, but pressed it to his brother’s rib cage instead this time, rather than give him another kick. It wasn’t overly heavy, but neither was it comfortable. More than anything, Sans just wanted to black out. But his brother wasn't nearly finished yet. Sans managed a gargled gasp as he felt a pressure on his chest. Panic flared up at the thought of being crushed, some sliver of survival instinct sparked his eye back to life.

“WEAK."

Sans felt his soul strain again. So he gripped it. Held it tight to keep it from shattering.

"SPINELESS."

Keep it from breaking. Walled it up. He stared up at…who was Sans even looking at anymore?

" _WORTHLESS_.”

His expression turned blank as he realized… While he knew the skeletons name. His kinship to him. Their troubled history.

He could not think to call him brother right now.

With each word he spoke, he pressed down harder. Sockets narrowing as the red pupils within gleamed with the surge of anger he felt swell within him. As if the skeleton beneath his foot was a mere insect that had bitten him, and now he was going to crush it. Just because he could.

He didn’t, though. When he felt he was supplying enough pressure, he stopped, and just cast him a wry, cruel smile. “BEATEN BY A MERE STREAM. TCH, I SHOULD OF EXPECTED AS MUCH.”

“BUT… FINE. FEAR NOT, DEAR BROTHER, FOR I’M NOT  _ENTIRELY_ UNFAIR.”

Even when Papyrus let up his assault, the magic remained, tightening over his soul. He didn’t trust Papyrus to show mercy. Didn’t trust him to just leave him be just yet.

And he was rewarded for that mistrust.

And without warning, the boot was removed from his rib cage only to be _slammed_ down just above his brother’s kneecap. The force and angle enough to cause bone to snap, though the crack didn’t go all the way through. Papyrus did it hard enough to break it, but it wasn’t going to be a permanent damage. It would heal. Eventually.

But it was going to hurt as it did.

Papyrus finally stepped away from him then, turning away as he idly fixed his glove back into place

“THERE. NOW YOU HAVE A _REAL_ REASON FOR NOT GETTING UP.”

A searing pain shoots up his leg, causing Sans squirm and seize below the guard. Desperately biting back a pathetic cry. Through his pained expression, the red in his eye grew hotter, his heart suffocating in it. He curled his bony fingers around the cracked bones, shaking like a leaf. He felt his HP chip away to half a measly point. Surely he’d be dead by now if he hadn’t kept his soul from shattering.

It was funny.

He was fine before at the thought of his brother killing him.

If it was his brother.

But this…

He didn’t know who this was.

Not anymore.

He trails his bloodied red eyes up at his brother, tired, cold, and hurt.

And yet.

Full of rage.

“That…” he finally managed to croak out. “….t…that… Was pretty… _cold_ of you Papyrus.”

Sans wasn’t going to wait for a third round. Not for a counter or a simple reaction. Sans shuts his eyes, forcing his mind to focus just long enough off the cold and pain and _guard_ before him…

And shortcutted away from the dreadful scene.

\---------

Papyrus was genuinely surprised, maybe even impressed, when he didn’t hear his brother cry out in pain. A part of him, however, was also disappointed… 

It was enough to make him glance over his shoulder, at the very least take satisfaction from seeing him writhe in agony. He couldn’t help but recall a time where he himself had done that, too. The guard had also refused to cry in pain back then, when he had been but a child. And in a fit of anger, his elder sibling has thrown a puzzle box straight for his eye. The scars that had remained gave a faint burning sensation from the memory, and Papyrus now fully turned back around as he watched his brother.

Then he turned those eyes toward him. Saw the _rage_. It made his own darken as Sans spoke, yet before he could give a response of any kind, he simply  _vanished_. Papyrus just stood there awhile longer, staring at the spot where snow had been tossed or flatten to show where his brother had just been.

 _Cold_. 

That’s what his brother had said. He was sure he meant it as a spiteful, ridiculous pun, but it couldn’t have been any more on point. It was exactly as he felt. While he had no skin to ‘appreciate’ the biting weather of Snowden, he didn’t need it. He had his very own, and it was encasing his very soul in ice as mouth twisted into a sardonic smirk.

He turned to walk away. If Sans was smart…

He wouldn’t come back home.

**Author's Note:**

> Mun for UF Papyrus: papyrusthegreater-uf.tumblr.com  
> Mun (me) for Sans: http://underfellsansrp.tumblr.com


End file.
